


Only Human

by The_Birds_And_Bees



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Growing Up Together, frisk needs LESS adults
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-01 17:12:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5214083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Birds_And_Bees/pseuds/The_Birds_And_Bees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They don’t get it. Why does everyone treat Frisk like they have to be EVERYTHING at once? As far as Kid is concerned, maybe what Frisk really needs is a hand.</p>
<p>Metaphorically speaking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. CAMPING IS FUN RIGHT

**Author's Note:**

> My love for Monster Kid grows by leaps and bounds and the person responsible knows who they are.
> 
> -Side eyes the bh6 fandom nervously- I’m sorry I’ll be back bros.

* * *

 

 

**I could use a hand sometimes.**

 

 

* * *

 

Their first night above ground, the monsters spend in a little city of tents kindly offered by the humans. The little town near Mount Abbott (a huge, expansive thing that he can hardly take his eyes off. It’s so HUGE, dude!) has absolutely no idea what to do with the thousands of monsters trickling down from the mountain, and a somewhat shanty of a town is about the best that they can do.

And it’s wicked awesome. Monster Kid spends most of the day running around with their little sister, and the both of them have to take pause, at times. When the huge, flying monsters circle overhead, and the big, green trucks roll in. Who knew humans were that big? That bulky?

His parents make that the first rule, of course. Don’t bother the humans. Kid doesn’t notice the way their eyes trail nervously over the black sticks in their hands when they say that.

The human Kid actually wants to see doesn’t show up until much later. He almost doesn’t spot them, but there’s no mistaking that purple sweater. Slipping out of the tent opening before their parents can protest, they make themselves known with a loud “YO!” and an unfortunate collision that sends them both toppling to the ground.

Frisk, to their credit, simply laughs it off.

“Dude, where have you been?!”

“Busy.” Frisk shrugs a little, and Kid scoffs at them. Busy, sure.

“Yeah well, now you aren’t. And we’re on the Surface, yo! We’ve gotta go exploring.”

It surprises them when Frisk’s answer isn’t immediately a resounding yes! If anything, their human pal looks a little hesitant, glancing around as if they expect someone to tell them no.

Well, they’re parents haven’t stopped them yet. And it doesn’t automatically click to Kid that Frisk might have a parent or two to ask, themselves. They’ve never had one to worry about before. So when no real protest is forthcoming, the monster kid headbutts them in the middle of their back, urging Frisk along. It’s cool; they’ll stay in the fence, like they were told! “C’mon

It is so _weird_ to see unfamiliar faces.

Of course, all the monsters are familiar. Kid can say hello to most of them, and they don’t really mind when the first child they greet is always Frisk. Frisk is kind of like Undyne; sort of really cool, almost untouchable. So whenever Frisk slows down in their game of tag to nod or stutter out a few words, they do their best to puff up their chest and look just as impressive.

But now and again, a pair of humans walk through the rows of tents. And it’s kind of like watching Greater Dog drop down into a cluster of Snowdrakes; monsters running about everywhere, trying to get out of the way. Their game of tag doesn’t just slow at these moments; they outright stop. And no manner of complaining pulls Frisk’s attention back from watching the humans just as intently as they seem to be watching their fellow human.

It stops being weird, at that point. Then it’s just downright uncomfortable.

“Hey… how about we go out there?” Kid nods towards the very edges of the camp, where there’s long stretches of grass gracefully sloping down to the edges of the forest. It’s probably outside the fenceline, but there’s no fence there. Who’s to say they can’t?

Plus, Frisk looks so relieved at the idea that they can’t even think of backing down. The two of them race out into the open fields, tussling in the grass and having a grand old time. Kid actually gets a smile- a real smile!

They don’t know what makes them stop.

Or look up.

But at some point, they do.

By that time, the world has gotten dark. Frisk is just a silhouette beside them, crouched down in the grass. And even they wind up looking to the sky when Kid becomes non-responsive, voice ever quiet and curious in the stillness of their own little bubble, the campsite a world away.

“You’ve never seen the stars before, have you?”

“No…” A million years spent staring up at Waterfall's fake stars could never prepare them for this. They'd been gawking at the sky all day, but now more than ever, it just looks so far away and infinite. The stars - the actual stars - there are more of them than any one monster could ever count, and they seem to shift and twinkle up in the sky, like they're dancing around anyone who'd even try it.

Kid can't even look away. They just stare up at all of this sparkling forever above them, eyes wide and... and maybe kind of wet.

“Yo...we’re supposed to make a wish, right?”

They turn to Frisk, who looks a little surprised. Like the thought hadn’t occurred to them at all.

A third voice in the conversation has them both jumping.

“Hey, kid. Tori says it’s time to head back now.” Frisk has a much easier time getting up, but Kid still manages to roll over, at least, staring up at one of the skeleton brothers. Not the cool one. He’s got that same grin on his face, like always. Hands in his pockets.

Kid wonders if he knows that he just ruined a very important moment. Since Sans never actually meets his eyes, it’s impossible to tell.

Frisk, on the other hand, seems to completely close off. They make a small noise of protest as they stand- but they do stand, and the skeleton chuckles as they pat their shoulder.

“I know, kid. They’ve still got a lot to talk to you about. We’ll work on finding you a bed soon, alright?”

“You gotta go, dude?” Kid intrudes, even though it’s obvious. Frisk just looks kind of unhappy with what Sans is saying, so why not. “And hey; if you can’t find a bed, you can come use mine! I mean, I gotta share with my little sister, but she’s not so bad. There’d still be room for you!”

That gets a smile, again.

Kid wonders why those smiles seem to be so rare.

“I gotta go. See you later?” Frisk waves at him, and well, he can’t wave back. He just watches from his place on the grass as his human friend follows the skeleton back up to the camp, shoulders hunching when a bony hand makes their way onto them.

 

 

They don’t see Frisk again for weeks.

  



	2. Dreaming in Déjà vu [Part 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They’re really starting to dislike that skeleton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t you love that initial awkward phase where you don’t quite have a character, and then it clicks?

* * *

 

**A struggle you don't know.**

 

* * *

 

 

They go from a tent to a small house and they _still_ have to share their room with their sister. Lame. There’s barely enough room for two beds in there, and the rest of the rooms aren’t much better. It’s a tight space for a family of four, and it’s just lucky for everyone that Kid likes spending most of their time outside, anyway.

Especially since school is apparently cancelled for like, ever. That part’s pretty neat. Would be neater, if any of their friends lived close enough to play with. Overcrowding in the Underground had made monsters their age pretty rare, and the more spread out the newly freed community became, the further away they all were.

...Some of them even returned Underground. Why anyone would _ever do that_ for more than like, a quick visit _,_ Kid doesn’t know. Who would ever want to miss out on seeing _real stars_ ; that big, wide forever that has yet to lose its charm?

Monsters without eyes, maybe. Everyone else has no excuse.

Frisk is on the television a lot. In the evenings, Kid settles down with their parents- or almost settles, but the excitement of seeing their friend on the television makes that really difficult. Most of the time the other is dressed in some stuffy little suit, surrounded by people; Mister Dreemurr, Mister Dreemurr’s Ex, Papyrus, Sans. Even Undyne makes an appearance, and _DUDE, WHY DIDN’T FRISK TELL THEM THEY WERE FRIENDS WITH HER?! HOW MANY COOL SLEEPOVERS COULD THEY HAVE?!?!_

Because they can have them. Are having one.

And Undyne’s not invited.

It’s weird, again. One day Frisk is a face on the screen and the next Kid’s right in front of them, because _woah dude, Mister Dreemurr’s ex is your MOM_ and _why is your mom building a school, yo?!_ There’s a story behind all of this that has something to do with Toriel keeping contact with their parents about when they and their sister can actually go to school, and that’s about all the time they have for listening to whatever it is the adults are discussing in the kitchen before they’re herding Frisk out to play.

Frisk was always really quiet, but _oh man,_ it’s even more apparent now. Kid fills in the gaps of their conversations by talking a mile a minute, and hey, they can’t say the human doesn’t seem happy about it. Or as happy as Frisk ever looks; that whole ‘emoting with their face’ thing is still a work in progress, Kid can tell. So it’s lucky they’re here.

“--dude, there’s this totally giant woods outside our house, and I swear, it like, goes on _forever._ I got lost one day and boy, I thought my parents were gonna lose it. I even found these cool mushrooms and _get this, they weren’t even in a cave--_ ”

Because the more Kid talks the more often they see Frisk’s lips twitch upwards, and the more it seems like they’re playing with another kid again. The whole ‘too quiet for you’ persona disappears somewhere when Kid deliberately cheats at tag; probably off to the same place as the stuffy suit.

“ _That’s not fair, Kid!_ ”

“Haha, well if you want to catch me, then you’ve got to stop being so slow, yo!” There’s a gleam in Frisk’s eye that Kid knows all too well, though they don’t remember ever thinking about it. It says that no matter what, they _are_ going to get caught, so the monster child enjoys their moment in the ‘Not It’ position as best they can. It’s really not that bad being ‘It’ for a friend, mind, but even so-

“Woah!” The rock comes out of nowhere. So of course they trip on it. They’ve run too far away from the house, over to the fence line, and as Kid falls they can see the fence rushing up to meet their face. There’s a bang, and it hurts, and they can hear Frisk calling out to them worriedly but they think they bit their tongue and that hurts _real bad-_

  


 

“Haha, well if you want to catch me, then you’ve got to stop being so slow, yo!” There’s a gleam in Frisk’s eye that Kid knows all too well, though they don’t remember ever thinking about it. It says that no matter what, they _are_ going to get caught, so the monster child enjoys their moment in the ‘Not It’ position as best they can. It’s really not that bad being ‘It’ for a friend, mind, but even so-

“Woah!” A hand catches one of their spines and tugs them right off balance, and together, the two of them go sprawling out of the grass, complaints following them the entire way. “ _Ow, dude!_ You’re supposed to _tag me,_ not rip my back off!”

“Be careful.” Frisk’s voice is brittle, almost a little shrill; and when they look past them, they suddenly get why.

“Oh, ha ha. I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going, huh?” Man, that fence looks nasty. They’d probably get some weird human disease if they fell onto it...which might’ve been worth it. The ‘too quiet for you’ persona must’ve snuck back out of its closet, and it brought along a friend; a totally blank expression.

“Having fun?”

“Woah- _dude!_ ” And it’s right back to complaining again, because Sans is smiling down at them like he’s in on some huge joke Kid will never get and _it’s actually kind of annoying_ that they don’t seem to go five minutes alone before the guy randomly appears out of nowhere. “Yo, it’s not cool to sneak up on people!”

“Sorry, Kid. Must’ve been skirting the fence on that one,” The skeleton shrugs, not meeting their eyes. Again. What’s with this guy and never looking anyone in the eye?

Except for Frisk, and Frisk doesn’t even seem to _want to_ look him in the eye.

“That was quite the trip there, huh?”

“Yeah.” Frisk murmurs, so quiet Kid almost doesn’t hear them. And they’re right there, sitting next to them.

“Everything okay, buddy?”

“…Yeah.”

“Alright.” Sans looks back to the house, smile firmly fixed in place. Kid’s not even sure why, but they’re really starting to not like that smile. It’s just... _weird,_ seeing someone act so happy when Frisk looks like they’re waiting for some hidden hammer to drop.

It’s _weird_ seeing someone _act._

“Dinner’s ready, kiddos. Better get in there before Tori catches you picketing around.”

“We’re going.” Kid answers for both of them, because- well. Frisk doesn’t look like they could manage it, right now. Stumbling to their feet, they give the human a few helpful butts of their head, deciding that if _Sans_ isn’t going to look at them, well. They don’t have to look at _him_ , either.

How’d you like that, funny guy?

“Hey Frisk, last one in’s a rotten egg!” Kid races forwards, already halfway across the yard by the time they realize no one’s racing alongside them. Looking back, they can see Frisk and Sans standing together, whatever words that are being exchanged lost to the distance.

Can’t even lie to themselves. They’re really starting to not like that guy.

 

...And why was he even here if he wasn’t coming to dinner?

 

* * *

 


End file.
